Knowledge Production System Research Articles

Addressing epistemic violence and methodological nationalism through a meta-analytical review on intergroup contact and conflict studies in Turkey

This paper provides an examination of intergroup contact research in the context of the Turkish-Kurdish ‘conflict’ through a meta-analytical scoping review. By doing so, we discuss how dominant biases in the literature such as methodological nationalism and epistemic violence influence research practices and knowledge-production systems in conflict and contact studies conducted under colonial rule. Through a thematic investigation, we found four variables that were commonly tested in intergroup contact studies: i) attitudes towards outgroup, ii) support for minority rights or multiculturalism, iii) perception of discrimination against the minority group, and iv) ethnic identity. We conducted four meta-analyses using a pool of 28 studies conducted in Turkey to unpack the associations of intergroup contact with: i) outgroup attitudes (r = .42; n = 5,624), ii) support for minority rights and multiculturalism (r = -.06ns; n = 1,567), iii) perception of discrimination against Kurds (r = .22; n = 2,431), and iv) ethnic identity (r = -.13; n = 4,636). The results demonstrated a moderate to strong relationship between intergroup contact and positive outgroup attitudes, while the findings were less robust for support for minority rights, perception of discrimination against Kurds, and ethnic identity. Furthermore, the group status and sample characteristics of the studies moderate the relationships between variables. Based on the findings and a critical analysis of the current literature, we discuss the limitations of the existing research and critical points for future studies.

Against decolonial reductionism: The impact of Latin American thinking on the data decolonization project

This essay argues that Latin American scholarship and movement practice are key to understanding the dynamics of the datafied society and countering its inequities. Examining the sources of inspiration of a frontrunner seeking to decolonize the datafied society – the Big Data from the South Initiative ( BigDataSur) – we review Martín-Barbero's ontological shift from media to mediations, Freire's methodology centring individual agency and empowerment as a structural task of society, Mignolo's invite to take decoloniality as a praxis rather than merely an idea, Rodríguez's first-hand engagement with technology at the margins, Escobar's autonomous design for the pluriverse, and the critical ecology of eco-social movements. We engage with a new generation of Latin American thinkers who turn their gaze to core problems of today's systems of knowledge production, be they media or academia. Learning from these scholars, we warn against decolonial reductionism, namely the trend to evoke decolonial ideas and theories without fully committing to putting them into practice. We maintain that to decolonize datafication, we ought to also change how we generate knowledge about the datafied society. We outline three practical strategies that foster an open-ended dialogue on alternative approaches to datafication and scientific practice: multilingualism, public scholarship, and mentorship.

From ‘Practical Application of Knowledge’ to ‘Academic Self-Awareness’: A Historical Examination of Knowledge Production in Chinese Middle East Studies

The knowledge production in Chinese Middle East studies boasts a long history. The article traces the evolution of Chinese scholarship on Middle East studies from ancient times to the present. Initially driven by the practical needs for imperial expansion and foreign trade, this scholarship focused on the academic tradition of the ‘practical application of knowledge.’ Over time, it evolved into a phase of academic self-awareness, characterized by a more systematic and independent approach to Middle East studies. This shift reflects broader changes in China’s foreign relations and academic priorities, with contemporary scholars emphasizing the development of an autonomous knowledge production system through various models, such as major-theme research, discipline-driven research, and integrated research. The article suggests that future research should adopt an ‘issue-driven’ model to enhance further the depth and autonomy of Chinese Middle East studies.

Doing decoloniality in the context of a PhD born in precarity and pandemic

This article takes a deep dive into my doctoral journey and my lived experience as an emerging Black African scholar doing decolonial research in a South African colonial and Westernized university. I wrestle with the contradictions and tensions that emerged during this period that took place at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. I also look back with ‘willful resistance’ to the oppressive systems of knowledge productions and the limitations of doing decolonial work. I consider my own complicity with these oppressive systems of knowledge production as I attempt to work within institutional constraints to fulfil the requirements of a PhD degree. Using Black existential theory as a lens and autoethnography as method, the goal is to generate a discussion with other emerging scholars about their own lived experiences doing decolonial research in colonial universities.

“Round Peg in a Square Hole”: Lessons from Community Health Promotion Practice on Dynamics of Accountability, Reporting and Evaluation, and Governance

This paper presents results from a small-scale institutional ethnography study of reporting requirements and evaluation practices in two urban community health centers (CHCs), as a sample of community-based nonprofit organizations that focus on social justice and health equity. The study illuminated complex relationships among accountability, reporting and evaluation, and governance. Among the CHCs, reporting and evaluation practices consistent with goals of obtaining social justice and health equity were undermined by an imbalance toward funder-oriented functional accountability. Analysis of accountability and reporting practices as systemic factors shaping knowledge production, decision-making, and action revealed notable consequences for CHCs’ health promotion practice. This paper proposes a wholistic accountability model to encourage equitable power relations in evaluation, enable participatory methods, and better align CHC knowledge production and governance systems with their health promotion goals. This study further adds to the growing literature supporting critical attention to nonprofit accountability in the context of systems change work.

A knowledge creation framework for academia toward agroecological transformations of food systems

Industrialized agriculture, characterized by high inputs, large-scale monocultures, and confined livestock production, with a narrow focus on profit, is a major transgressor of societal and planetary boundaries. It fuels climate change, biodiversity loss, water and soil degradation, nutritional deficiencies, public health issues, cultural erosion, and socioeconomic inequalities. As early-career researchers in agricultural sciences, we are concerned about these systemic crises and recognize that participating in normative academic practices without reflection may reinforce the prevailing industrialized food system. Motivated by the dissonance between the potential impact of our work and our vision of a better future, in this paper we describe and challenge academic praxis in agricultural sciences to tackle the interconnected crises. We do this by developing a framework of two drivers of academic knowledge production, power and values, and two mechanisms, motives and relationality. We argue that in the current dominant food system, power is consolidated and hierarchical, driven by the values of growthism and reductionism, motivated by efficiency and productivism, and characterized by extractive and anthropocentric relationality. Furthermore, we highlight evidence of the negative outcomes associated with this system, including the challenges we face and may potentially contribute to as participants. We then envision transformed food systems through examples of counter-hegemonic knowledge production systems, grounded in agroecological principles, in which power is distributed and horizontal, the primary values are solidarity and holism, motives enhance sufficiency and sovereignty, and relationality is reciprocal and based on care. By examining the current system and offering examples of alternatives, we aim to help distinguish between research that upholds the statu-quo and research that fosters change. We aim to inspire ourselves and others to reconnect with our agency and contribute towards transformed knowledge systems where food systems, underpinned by the values of agroecology, are more capable of sustaining life on this planet in an equitable and just manner.

Epistemic racism in anti-doping research: A call for critical awareness

The anti-doping movement is presented with significant challenges, including high-profile inter-agency disputes, claims of inconsistent application of the WADA Code, institutionalized doping, and the emergence of doping-permissive movements. Amid these issues lies a less recognized yet crucial issue of epistemic racism, which can undermine global anti-doping initiatives. Epistemic racism, rooted in culturally biased systems of knowledge production, often privileges Western perspectives while relegating non-Western perspectives. Such bias can perpetuate racial stereotypes and affect anti-doping research and policy implementation. This Commentary explores the concept of epistemic racism, its manifestations, and strategies for mitigation within anti-doping research. A case example of a recent publication is presented to demonstrate how epistemic racism can go undetected and unchallenged, potentially reproducing and reinforcing outdated stereotypes. Overlooked, epistemic racism can have profound ramifications, including deterring aspiring scholars from developing countries, distorting anti-doping policies, and reinforcing racial stereotypes. To counteract this, it is essential to educate researchers on racial biases, adapt methodologies to reduce these biases and increase the inclusion and representation of scholars from developing countries in research and editorial roles. Such measures may foster a more inclusive research environment and directly inform practice, helping anti-doping research and practice become more critically aware.

Unlocking the power of diversity for supply chain knowledge: Is pluralism in theorizing styles the key?

AbstractThe authors reflect on the opportunities for diversity in supply chain research by examining the prevalent modes of theorizing in the field. This examination focuses on identifying common styles of theorizing in supply chain management research, which are defined as specific modes of reasoning to make inferences about supply chain phenomena. Armed with this definition, the authors elaborate how research in the field has for the most part hinged on a propositional style as a common base for theorizing and theoretical contributions. The analysis that is provided emphasizes the limits of this style, particularly when it is considered as the preferred form for all theoretical contributions. The authors, in turn, make the case for a pluralistic system of knowledge production that supports the use of multiple theorizing styles that, when used alongside one another in a coordinated or co‐oriented manner, will lead to a better understanding of supply chain management phenomena.

Postcolonial Identity and Discourse: Foucauldian Analysis of Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone

This research article delves into the intricate interplay between postcolonial identity and discourse in Kamila Shamsie's novel, "A God in Every Stone," employing a Foucauldian analytical framework This paper presents a Foucauldian analysis of Kamila Shamsie's novel, "A God in Every Stone." Drawing upon the works of Michel Foucault (2016), the paper examines the novel through the lens of power, knowledge, and the construction of historical narratives. Through a close reading of key characters and events, this analysis elucidates how colonial power structures and systems of knowledge production intersect in the novel to shape individual and collective identities. The present study has been conducted on Shamsie’s A God in Every Stone to highlight the process of colonization. The interpreter has examined the ways by which the colonized resisted colonial rule. Foucault’s model of Power has been used as the conceptual framework of the study to analyze the postcolonial aspects of Shamsie’s (2014) novel. The present study is qualitative in nature. The data has been collected through the close reading technique of the A God in Every Stone. For data analysis, those textual lines have been selected in which the elements of power and resistance are present covertly. The interpreter has explored different dimensions of Foucault’s power, i.e., Sovereign power and disciplinary power. British Empire justified its colonial rule over the colonized through the colonial discourse which was prejudiced against non-white people. The colonized people resist colonial rule through their dialogues in this novel. In A God in Every Stone, the major protagonist is Vivian Rose Spencer. She is an English woman who carried out digging in Turkey to unearth the ancient silver circlet. The interpreter has inferred that the colonizers used many disciplinary strategies to subjugate the colonized people. The Indian soldiers were trained by the British imperialists to fight in the battlefield on the Western Front. Many innocent Indian soldiers lost their lives in fighting the enemies of the British Empire. The major character of the novel Qayyum Gul, fought bravely in the battlefield. Unfortunately, he lost an eye during the battle. When he returned to Peshawar, he joined a freedom movement, which aimed to liberate India from the British colonizers. Ultimately, this Foucauldian analysis of "A God in Every Stone" underscores the intricate dynamics of power and knowledge in the colonial context and sheds light on the complexities of historical representation and identity formation in a postcolonial world.

Anthropologies of health policy

In this introduction to our special issue, we take a wide view of the history and epistemic stakes of anthropological and ethnographic approaches to health policy. Drawing on the history of critical medical anthropology, the anthropology of policy, and critical policy studies, we show how anthropologies of health policy are particularly essential in this current moment, as policy production becomes increasingly abstracted and even more entwined with specific forms of evidence making. Taken together, the contributors of this special issue argue that anthropology’s interventions into health policy are essential in three ways. First, they shed light on the practices of policy ‘communities’, the pragmatic parameters under which they work, and the central logics under which health policy actors are operating. Second, they examine the effects of policy implementation upon those intended to be the subjects of health policy, highlighting the effects of policy for those marginalised by gender, race, and caste. Here, anthropology provides a view into the ‘lived experience’ of those targeted by health policy, but it also demands that anthropologists provide ‘counter-stories’ and ‘counter-evidences’ that dismantle narrow systems of policy knowledge production. Finally, anthropological attention provides an essential lens into the things that carry over in the act of policy reform—the past reverberations and imperial inheritances. Together with our contributors, we call for anthropologies of health policy that work to highlight and dismantle such inheritances.

Hypocritical Management Studies

The assertion "critical management studies is dead. It died a long time ago" (O'Doherty and Jones, 2005, p. 6) has aged poorly. Critical Management Studies lives on, stronger than ever. The term itself even gets title case capitalization. Responding to the call to "investigate the production of theories that pose as radical without challenging the status quo", I offer my critique of Critical Management Studies. Critical Management Studies provides critical perspectives on established management theories and practices. It aims to encourage micro-emancipations and propose radical alternatives for organizational life. However, I argue that, in the current backdrop of neoliberal academia, Critical Management Studies finds itself entangled in the web of capitalist knowledge production systems that it criticizes. Critical scholars, instead of fearlessly challenging power structures, seem to cling to the status quo knowledge production—a bitter irony not lost on observers. I dub this ironic situation as Hypocritical Management Studies.

Coloniality, modern subjectivities in Kenya and exclusion of African women in preventing violent extremism

Cosmetic attention to contextual nuances has been a major obstacle in many programmes for preventing violent extremism (PVE) in Kenya. The study highlights how donor-funded interventions often disregard cultural values and local experience by posing a subtle resistance to learn from the knowledge of local actors. The non-recognition of contextual knowledge postures a gender problem, increasing chances for systemic exclusion of African women from the knowledge production system. The paper interrogates how modern subjectivities, entrenched in contemporary interventions, exude colonial legacies in PVE. Using decolonial theory and interviews with local practitioners, the study submits that many donor-funded PVE approaches risk pushing further the voice of indigenous African women to the periphery of knowledge production. The paper concludes that PVE interventions in the local context have an opportunity for reinforcing indigenous perspectives through a decisive decolonial strategy in the women peace and security agenda.

Black Unsettlement: Embodied Blackness and Black Studies in the Irish Context

Reflecting the call for diverse opinions in knowledge production, this article is a personal perspective on the positioning of Black Studies in Ireland. Black Studies as praxi-theory foregrounds the inseparability of embodied experiences from epistemic subject, since the knowledge production process is inherently subjective. Within the Irish racial ecology, the specificities of being Black suggest using the term anti-blackness rather than racism to address systemic racial violence against the Black body. While the presence of blackness in Ireland challenges imagined narratives of racial homogeneity, anti-blackness is deeply entrenched within academic texts, materials and ideas, shaping knowledge production cultures and systems. To understand the nature of anti-blackness in Ireland, a number of concepts which inform the author's work will be introduced. Xeno/miso-phenotypic prejudice encompasses both bias and aversion in relation to the Black body. Unexpected Irishness reflects the dissonance in some imagined white spaces, discourses and epistemes when confronted by the onto-epistemological totality of blackness. The author, positioned as a Black academic teaching Black Studies, underscores the potential tokenisation of Black scholarship within Higher Education Institutions and the toll on Black academics’ well-being. The text calls for a genuine elevation of Black Studies, acknowledging its power to unsettle academic complacency.

Mind the Gap: Defining Urban Resilience Knowledge-Implementation Gaps

Background: As the use of the term urban resilience has gathered momentum, its meaning has diverged from a clear academic concept toward fuzzy and increasingly vague definitions that seek to address the normative dimensions of resilience for whom, of what, and for when. While the academic discourse is putting forward theoretical advances in the conceptualization of resilience, there is growing concern that, in practice, the term is being co-opted as a mechanism for implementing policies that support business as usual. Methods: This paper identifies current urban resilience knowledge-implementation gaps and how they occur. It does so through a systematic literature review and 21 semi-structured interviews with mid-career urban resilience professionals (researchers, practitioners, policymakers). Results and conclusions: The findings point to five types of gaps: definitional, epistemic, multiscalar, methodological, and values gaps. Because the increased concern for how urban resilience knowledge production systems operate and the operationalization barriers they create are a relatively recent issue, there is a pressing need not only to identify them but to explore how they can be addressed. The paper concludes by putting forward potential next steps to address the identified gaps through transdisciplinarity: fostering skills and capabilities for systemic approaches at individual, team, and organizational levels and facilitating inter- and intra-organizational learning through communities of practice.

Theory as an engine: Illuminating “white space” of the SCM system of knowledge production

In this Notes & Debates essay, we contribute to debates about the discipline of supply chain management's (SCM) system of knowledge production. We do so by exploring the range of ways that the appropriate use of theory can be understood. We highlight that a preponderance of research assumes the role of theory as a camera: a means of attaining the clearest image of the world as it is, achieved through empiricism and/or modeling. We also illuminate the possibility, stemming from a performative view of science, to mobilize theory as an engine for transforming the world. By examining the range of possibilities for researchers using theory as an engine, and by documenting the scarcity of SCM literature that has pursued one of the multiple possible agendas, we illuminate “white space” of SCM research important for the further development of the discipline.

ChatGPT and accounting in African contexts: Amplifying epistemic injustice

Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT are likely to amplify epistemic injustice through the lack of transparency and traceability of data sources. The unethical alienation of original knowledge producers from their intellectual products, which are repackaged by LLMs as artificial intelligence, conceals power asymmetries in the global knowledge production and dissemination system. As elaborated by Miranda Fricker (2010), Western White male actors traditionally dominate knowledge production; therefore, ChatGPT and other LLMs are inclined to reproduce patriarchal perspectives as universal understandings of the World. Our commentary applies this logic to accounting practice and research in Africa, and asserts that epistemic injustice, resulting from colonization and racism, means that ontological and epistemological approaches situated in the accounting needs and experiences of African communities are missing from or poorly articulated by ChatGPT and other LLMs. If LLMs are to attain legitimacy as (ethical) sources of knowledge, regulation must be enforced to ensure transparency—as a foundation for promoting pluriversality and eliminating epistemic injustice.

중국 자전에 대한 문화연구적 접근

The main purpose of this work is to present a new approach based on cultural studies to Chinese dictionaries and related studies, which is accomplished by means of overcoming the limitation of existing methods. Here, the limitation refers in fact to the wall that stands firmly on the base of micro-inquiry or quantitative research on a specific dictionary, blocking the expansion and deepening of Chinese dictionary research. The overcoming implies a new method of identifying both universality and specificity of the dictionary through a macroscopic yet comprehensive exploration carried out for the overall political-economic and socio-cultural conditions of the time in which the social production of the dictionary was actually made possible. In this respect, the relationship between continuity and discontinuity is examined, analyzed, and explained in the framework of multi-layered transition of history, and so do the universality and specificity of a given Chinese dictionary in those of formation discursive and contemporary system of knowledge production. Lastly, it is expected that the multi-dialecticization of continuity-discontinuity and universality-specificity will present a new perspective on Chinese dictionaries and related research as a window to look into Chinese civilization and society.

Implementation of post-classical rationality in the modern discourse of legal protection of social morality

Modern Ukrainian society is at such a segment of world history that is called postmodern and post-industrial society, and therefore corresponds to a post-neoclassical type of rationality, which is characterized by non-linear development, self-organization and self-development, the transition to new models of relations, including state-legal ones sphere, especially when it comes to the development of democratic principles in local self-government and the structure of executive power, etc. For general jurisprudence, such approaches are considered promising, because they take into account random, probabilistic relationships along with cause-and-effect relationships. It is believed that the post-non-classical type of rationality “works” within the limits of the new (modern) development of science with a new way of knowing and the methodology of scientific research. At the same time, it is not only about science, but, in a broader sense, about the global transformation of the knowledge production system and the change in the ways of relating to society in the context of overcoming the “contemplative” nature of knowledge and giving it a praxeological focus with further inclusion in the conceptual field of post-classicism. Based on the peculiarities of post- non-classical rationality in social cognition, we will make an assumption about its threefold goal, which, in view of the above, consists in combining rational and logical possibilities in the studied phenomena and events with the intellectual and personal qualities of the researcher, including a wide range of “value orientations, existential experience, psychological characteristics, etc., that is, his understanding of social reality. Thus, it is substantiated that the weakness of state positions on the protection of public morality lies in the fact that, from the very beginning, a model of moral relations adequate to the requirements of the time was not formed, which would take into account the dynamics of social changes and find embodiment in legislation, state institutions, civil society, and was b a tool of social regulation, a criterion for assessing the vital activity of a person and society.

From fringe to mainstream: The Garcia effect

The rejection of research results is sometimes thought to be justified in cases of individuals embracing fringe ideas that depart significantly from prevailing orthodoxy, or in cases of individuals who lack appropriate expertise or credentials. The case of John Garcia exhibits both of these dimensions, and illustrates that such rejection can delay scientific advancements. Garcia's work decisively challenged what was the orthodoxy in psychology in the midcentury: behaviorism. Behaviorist learning theorists suffered from theory-entrenchment insofar as they failed to acknowledge Garcia's anomalous research findings that ran counter to their theoretical expectations. The case study also illustrates that theories on the margins can become embraced as a result of advancements in adjacent research fields. Studying how Garcia's work moved from fringe to mainstream results in lessons for the philosophy of science and epistemology more generally. Only when we see the mechanisms of exclusion at work can we understand how science and other knowledge production systems can inadvertently act counterproductively via gatekeeping practices that filter out unorthodox points of view.

Understanding human participant research ethics: The perspectives of social scientists in Central Asia

Central Asian (CA) countries have been actively developing their research and knowledge production systems. However, inconsistent alignment with international research ethics norms creates challenges for researchers in CA to equally participate in global knowledge production. Based on quantitative survey responses of 296 social science researchers from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan, this paper explores social scientists’ understandings of international principles and practices of human participant research ethics. The findings show that CA social science researchers focus on a broad understanding of research integrity, focused on academic and professional integrity. The respondents highlighted the importance of individual researcher values such as honesty, responsibility, and respectfulness. With only 35 % of the respondents reporting the existence of a research ethics committee (REC) at their institutions, most respondents believe that human participant research ethics are an individual rather than an institutional responsibility in Central Asia. This study has implications for developing research and policy in other post-Soviet and emerging research contexts.